Spotify Lands More Hardware Partners to Take On Apple’s Airplay

Samsungs Multiroom Speakers are among 80 devices that work with Spotify connect.

Samsung Electronics Co.

In the ongoing battle to control users’ living rooms, Spotify has been ramping up efforts to establish an alternative to wireless media-streaming technologies like Apple 's Airplay. Now some new hardware companies are joining its cause.

Spotify Connect, launched by the Sweden-based music service last year, lets users stream music wirelessly from their mobile devices to stereo speakers or televisions locally over Wi-Fi.

The offering–whose success is dependent on hardware partners making products that integrate the functionality–is part of Spotify’s effort to take control of users’ living rooms and tie them more closely to Spotify’s online music streaming service.

On Wednesday, Spotify said it had signed new hardware deals with Bose, Panasonic, and Gramofon, which all have pledged to make devices that will integrate the functionality. Panasonic, it said, will ship flat-screen televisions that work with Spotify Connect.

But Spotify’s wireless streaming option is far from alone, on the increasingly crowded battleground to bring Web content to consumers’ TV screens and stereos.

Apple has enjoyed some success in getting other companies to use its similar AirPlay technology, while Google’s Chromecast device–a Wi-Fi dongle that plugs into a television’s HDMI port and can stream media from mobile devices–has sold briskly and is supported by the likes of Netflix, Pandora Media and France’s music streaming service Deezer.

Amazon.com has also launched a set-top box for streaming video, while Apple has long been looking at making a more dedicated push into television technology, people familiar with the company’s plans have said.

Spotify said its hardware partners, which today include the likes of Samsung Electronics, Sony and Pioneer, have built a total of 80 devices that integrate Spotify Connect. It added that this number will rise to more than a hundred before the year end. Devices that work with Spotify Connect will range from €50 to €2,000, it said.